Sketch the character of Cassio

Cassio is a handsome, light-hearted, and good-natured young fellow. Othello is fond of him. Desdemona likes him. He is a typical, young military officer. Othello appoints him his lieutenant and later in the play, he is appointed as Governor of Cyprus in place of Othello. He is young and handsome, polite in manners. He knows how to win the heart of a lady and is forward in the shows of courtesy to them.

Cassio is a true and sincere friend. He has always loved Othello and has always served him. He has always been sincere with him. Othello has been his hero. So, Cassio follows him like a humble devotee. He feels his dismissal so sorely because he has lost the favor and good opinion of a friend. Towards the end, all his love for Othello is expressed in this brief pathetic sentence, "Dear general, I never gave cause." He had not addressed his beloved general in this familiar way ever before.

Lago is jealous of Cassio. He has hatred against him. He decides to take revenge on Cassio. Besides this, Cassio has a beauty in his daily life which is unbearable to him. So he intrigues to bring about his downfall. He uses Cassio as his tool. He befools him. By his instigation, Cassio goes to Desdemona for regaining his lost post. Lago suspects that Cassio has slept with his wife, Emilia too. He persuades Cassio to drink heavily on the night of festivity and merry-making. He incites Roderigo to pick up a quarrel with him when Cassio is heavily drunk. Roderigo acts accordingly and there occurs a noisy quarrelsome situation. Cassio wounds both Roderigo and Montano. Othello heard the noisy quarreling awakening from sleep and comes on the scene. He is very angry at Casio's irresponsible behavior.

To sum up, we can say that Cassio is an important character in the play, Othello. He contributes a lot to the development of the plot of the play. He commits several foolish activities as a tool of the logo. But the main fault in his character is his weakness of will. It is his weakness that brings about his downfall. He knows that he has a weak head for wine, and he knows that he cannot stand even one extra drink, even then he allows himself to be persuaded by lago to drink and thus makes an ass of himself.